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26.6 C
Philippines
Tuesday, February 18, 2025
26.6 C
Philippines
Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Group seeks tobacco farmers’ inclusion in gov’t boards, anti-smuggling council

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The Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) called for the inclusion of tobacco farmers in government agencies and boards including the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Council to protect their livelihood.

Former Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Montemayor, FFF board chairman, said farmers are key to solving the problems of the tobacco leaf industry.

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“Colleagues and friends in the tobacco industry, and in agriculture as a whole, all of us are in the same boat. If we are the problem, we are also the solution,” Montemayor said in a speech at the Second International Tobacco Summit on Jan. 27, 2025 at Seda Vertis North in Quezon City.

Montemayor cited the need to institutionalize farmers’ representation and participation in policy formulation and program implementation at all levels of government.

“This includes their early appointment to the advisory board under the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Council, headed by the president, pursuant to the provisions of Republic Act No. 12022,” he said.

The National Tobacco Administration noted in the same conference that the illicit tobacco trade adversely impacts the livelihood of 2.2 million Filipinos who are dependent on tobacco including more than 430,000 farmers, farm workers, and their family members.

Montemayor said many so-called “experts” analyze issues from an academic perspective, without fully appreciating the complexities on the ground.

“It is vitally important for real solution-seekers to consider these matters from the ‘worm’s eye-view,'” he said.

Montemayor said policymakers and program implementers need to understand farmers’ priorities, capabilities and limitations from the farmers’ perspective.

“They must interact regularly with producers to discover what can move them to act and what will discourage them. Otherwise, the best laid plans and budgets will be wasted,” he said.

“Farmers associations and cooperatives can play a crucial role in helping members access farm credit, information, technical and other services. Additionally, they can undertake value-adding and marketing activities for their membership,” he said.

Montemayor said a paramount concern for tobacco producers is the adequacy—or lack of—their earnings from tobacco cultivation.

Compared to staple and other high-value crops, income from tobacco growing is generally more remunerative. This is due to a system of assured floor prices, credit, extension and marketing support from the government and the private commercial sector, he said.

Montemayor said while facing all these challenges and opportunities, farmers and other stakeholders in the tobacco sector are fortunate to be the intended beneficiaries of the excise tax shares given to local governments under Republic Acts Nos. 7171 and 8240. “Properly allocated and utilized, these large public monies will go a long way in bringing prosperity to tobacco producers and their communities as well as ensuring the long-term sustainability of the tobacco sector,” he said.

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